Women demand more cabinet posts

 When Malawians vote for a President in a fresh poll set for Tuesday June 23, 55.6 percent of the 6,859,570 registered voters will be women.

On the ballot paper is the incumbent, seeking re-election Peter Mutharika of the Democratic Progressive Party, Malawi Congress Party President Lazarous Chakwera and Mbakuwaku Movement for Development president Peter Kuwani and their running mates, all men.

But once Malawi’s sixth President post multiparty democracy is officially announced, one of his first duties will be to appoint a cabinet to help run the affairs of the country. And women under the banner of the Women’s Manifesto Movement (WMM) are calling on the incoming President to appoint a gender-inclusive cabinet.

“We’re saying that we already have a law in place, the Gender Act, which says when you’re coming up with public appointments there should not be less than 40 percent and not more than 60 percent of either sex, so what we’re asking for is a cabinet that has a fair representation of men and women.

Kathewera Banda: We’re asking for a cabinet that has a fair representation of men and women. Photos by Chisomo Ngulube

“Why we need that is because women also have a right to participate and they also have to contribute to the decisions that are being made for this country. Males can not claim to know everything that affects women, but when women contribute, it means the decisions that will come out will work out for men and women,” said Maggie Kathewera Banda, Executive Director of Women’s Legal Resource Centre and a lead voice behind the  Women’s Manifesto Movement.

She also trashes assertions that there are not enough qualified women to fill some of these posts.

“It’s a lie, there is simply no political will because even if you go to the political parties, women are there but how are they used? They’re used for dancing, not for decision making,” she added.

In 2019, the Women’s Manifesto, got written commitments from some of the presidential election contestants that they would among other things appoint a gender-inclusive cabinet.

She hopes that the President Malawians vote for on Tuesday will stick to this commitment and not have to force the hand of movement to seek judicial review.

Kathewera Banda also said the women will expect the new President to put in place systems to protect them from violence.

Women remain grossly underrepresented in positions of power. In the nullified and the fresh presidential election there has been no female candidates a situation which has worried gender activists.